All Forum Posts by: Jenna Banaitis

Hi:

I have searched the forums but am getting a million different opinions. What is the best (easiest platform for tenants) to collect rent? I use Stessa for bookkeeping but really need to get away from my personal VENMO and start collecting through one of these other platforms - looked into Rent Redi, Avail, and Apartments.com....all seem to have their pros and cons. We only have 7 doors, but also have 11 storage units.   Thoughts? Experiences? I want to make this as easy as possible for my Venmo tenants since Venmo is so simple! Thanks! 

Hello:

Question:  I have a great potential tenant and his girlfriend looking to rent my apartment as he is starting his Masters at a local college. He says (I will verify) that he has plenty of money saved and his credit score is over 750. His GF is working on getting a job and will have a letter of intent to start her new job out in this area.  They are from CA; moving across country for his Masters. He will not be working while in school.  He mentioned that his parents are willing to co-sign if necessary.  How is this done? I have never done anything like this and I hate to just pass them over as all the other boxes are checked. Thanks! 

Good afternoon! Quick question for you all: my husband and I are 45 years old and we have a multi family home that are we were looking to refinance. It is currently in a 15 year mortgage with about 11 years left. We owe $114,000 on it but it’s worth about $375. My question is, would you refinance cash out into a 15 year and have your mortgage payment go up about $350 a month or would you jump to a 30 year, take out more money and have the payment stay the same. The goal is to purchase one or maybe two more rentals with the cash.  Our current rate is at 4.1% and I should be able to stick with that rate for a 15 year but the 30 year would go up to 4.675%. The rate doesn’t freak me out as much as going to a 30 year given our age. When we bought the house 20 years ago, the interest rate was at 8%! Lol  I think I know the answer to this question but I’m curious what you would all say?  

Jenna 

Question: With a 1031 exchange; are you committed to the 1031 exchange after you sign a P&S on your relinquishing property OR after you close on that property?

Hi all:

Would love some advice from you smart people!  My husband and I own two small multi families. We are looking for a 3rd to purchase with 20% conventional loan. We have the cash for that.  We are also looking to leverage one of the properties we currently own. We have come up with two options after speaking with loan officers, a QI and our agent.  Here are the options. Please tell me what you would do. 

Background: this property is a 2 family home with 11 garages on the property in which we rent out for storage. We have owned it for 22 years and have put lots of money into it to rehab it; but there are few problems with the property. 1. Due to the garages, it requires a commercial insurance policy, doubling what we would normally pay.  2.  It is a pain to snow plow; there is little space to push the snow and we have asked probably 10 different plow guys all who don't want to deal with it. Currently, we are paying the tenant to use our blower, but what if he moves? Then we are back to doing it ourselves which is a royal pain.  3.  The garage tenants are wonderful, but they are a different group of people. I take payment every three months and I have to text them when rent is due and then they show up with cash or a money order at my house. No one has a check book!  Would love to automate this somehow, just not sure if it's possible with this group.  The property cash flows about $1000/month and we owe $113K. It's worth about $350K.  Our agent already brought us a buyer for this price.  The buyers would be very flexible allowing for the 1031 exchange. 

My questions:

1. Would you re-fi the house w/ a cash out to buy another property? (we could lower rate from 4.125 to 3.875% and stay in a 15 year; we have about 11 years left.  OR....

2.  Would you 1031 the property to elevate some of the headache into a larger property or something that is less of a headache.  We could possibly re-fi this new property after a year or so to purchase another one if desired. 

Thoughts? Sorry for long post. Thanks! Jenna 

@Matthew Crivelli. So true! Lol 

Thanks @Matthew Crivelli I was thinking the same. Our current rate isn't horrible at 3.5% but I still think the money is so dirt cheap and who knows what could happen with the HELOC rate. I think I would be prone to do the HELOC if I was going to be flipping or BRRRR'ing the property so we could pay it off right away vs a buy and hold. Nice to see another local as well! Not many of us from Western Mass - always from Boston! LOL

Looking to purchase our 3rd small multi family. Debating where I should get the money from. I have narrowed it down to taking it out of my own house; but not sure which way to go. I spoke to our lender and they suggested a HELOC OR a Cash Out Refi at 2.5%/15 year note. We only owe $140K on the home and it is worth about $420K. We would be taking $60K out of the house which still leaves us with plenty of equity. We are 9 years into a 20 year note. I know the logical thing would be a HELOC since there are no closing costs and you only pay for it if you use it, etc, BUT I hate having that as a loan that will come directly out of my monthly cash flow. Our properties are typically move in ready or close to it, and we hold onto them. I also hate the idea of a variable rate. Finally, if we did the cash out refi; our monthly payment only goes up $16. Obviously, I'm leaving toward the cash out refi but am wondering what all you smart people say?? Thanks so much!

@Chris Szepessy  Thanks Chris. We tend to agree, it's just so hard to not use that money to continue investing. Thanks for the input. 

Hello everyone:

My husband and I are debating if we should refinance our current home and take out some cash to purchase another rental.  We have about $250,000 equity in the house we live in. We have done cash out refinances with past rental properties, but never with our own home. Is this stupid or smart? Help!  Thank you!

PS: Another thing to note: we are thinking of possibly relocating in two years - would this influence your decision? 

Jenna